Weight loss is a side effect of fitness. Thank you for visiting and reading. Please feel free to comment, I don't answer very often because I have had my say, and the comments are for you to have yours. Just remember, even if we disagree, I don't require you to be wrong, for me to be correct in my thinking!

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Monthly Archives: July 2011

Even though I don’t agree with the First Lady’s dietary suggestions, nor her personal use of cleanses, for improving health and defeating obesity, I commend her efforts, especially her let’s move initiative. Sixty minutes a day of physical activity for children, hell for adults as well, is something we should all strive to attain. Get the children moving and they will not only increase their wellness and fitness, but they will more than likely no longer crave unhealthy foods.

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Unfortunately, the First Lady is beholden to push the fat storing USDA’s food pyramid or as it is now known the MyPlate Program. It is flawed on many levels, arguably most importantly on its reliance of starchy carbohydrates as the primary meal choice. Alas, the difficulty of being the spouse of a politician is that you must put politics above sound judgement and participate in the special interest pandering that propels your spouses political bank accounts.

The media has reported, and media opponents of the President have seized upon, the First Lady’s meal choice at a newly opened Shake Shack in Washington, D.C.. Of course Rush “Rotund” Limbaughand Sean “Soft Around the Middle” Hannity jumped all over the story calling Mrs. Obama a hypocrite.

In my book; FAT THEN FIT NOW; A LIFE BEYOND WEIGHT LOSS, I actually encouraged planned “splurge” meals. Food is one of the great joys of life and since I eat properly and exercise vigorously to enjoy life, once in a while, a little loosening of eating discipline isn’t going to sabotage my overall fitness. I emphasize in the book that this must be thought out and done only occasionally and that you must be vigilant not to fall back into old habits that will not only rob you of your progress, but destroy your health and wellness.

Let’s look at what the reports said she ordered; a burger, fries, chocolate shake and a diet soda. Okay, can we all agree that if you are going to consume that type of meal you may as well have the regular soda. The artificial calorie free sweetener is probably more harmful than the artificial high fructose corn syrup in the non-diet soda. The press and the “experts” have all honed in on the calorie and fat content of the meal. For those of us in the know, we know how far from identifying the real culprits these folks are. This meal is a nutrient wasteland of carbohydrate loaded, sugar shock inducing, lard layering concoctions of blood glucose raising garbage. I would assume the burger is in a white flour based bun, the french fries are nothing but deep fried polysaccharides and the shake, well why didn’t she just open a sugar bag and move a spoon from the bag to her mouth. The only portion of this meal that would not add fat to her figure would have been the hamburger, minus the bun and certain condiments.

What all of this highlights is that in the world of politics, even genuine and well intentioned goals can be marred by the process. Can you imagine if the President’s wife spoke out against grains, corn and high fructose corn syrup? Just look at some of the biggest lobbyists in this country and the answer will be apparent — she won’t.

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On the other side, is it really appropriate for Rush Limbaugh to speak at all on obesity? Of course not, he is one of the biggest enemies of the state of health and fitness. All one needs to do is listen to his views on health and wellness to realize that he is as uninformed as he is bombastic.

However, Michelle Obama opens the door for these criticims when her efforts are not really going to do anything to make a dent in our overwhelming obesity epidemic. If Michelle Obama is sincere, and I believe that she is, I offer my services to help her in reaching her goal to reduce our childhood obesity numbers. I have the credentials and the experience to assist her in making a real difference during the roughly seventeen months left in her husband presidency. She can email me at fatthenfitnow@me.com, or she can call me at (570) 760-6121.

He is available to speak at no charge to any school or any youth group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Entercom’s Outlook on Northeast PA with Shadoe Steele, Citadel Broadcasting’s Sunday Magazine with Brian Hughes, Lisa Davis’ Your Health Radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast.

If you have lost weight, tried to lose weight or are just thinking about losing weight you have undoubtedly been inundated by advertising.

Be it television, radio, spam, billboards, hell even folks walking the streets with sandwich boards… you are hit by a plethora of quick fix weight loss promising products..

Drink this in place of a meal and you will lose weight.

Order pre-packaged food and you will lose weight.

Take this “natural” pill and you will lose weight.

I’ve been exposed to them all, I’ve even tried a few. Everything from fasting, juicing, fruit only, to vegetable only diets all promise rapid weight loss without effort.

I am always skeptical of the fast, fat-loss fads that claim to bring forth miracles that are too good to be true. Why? Because they are too good to be true.

Anyone who knows me, has heard me on the radio, podcasts, seen me on television, has read my book or this blog is aware that I am an avid low carbohydrate follower. They also understand that I am more than just about a diet. I am a firm believer in the power and benefits of exercise and fitness. I work out seven days a week.

The most effective way to lose weight and get in shape is following my plan. Okay, I’m a little biased. However, if you follow and apply the 3 D’s and the 3 E’s you have no option but to gain renewed health.

Desire to get in shape

Determine that you will do it.

Have the discipline to get it done.

Eat a diet low in carbohydrates, as close to nature and as unprocessed as possible

Exercise seven days a week. Include endurance training along with progressive resistance workouts.

Dr. Joe Leonardi is available to appear on any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Entercom’s Outlook on Northeast PA with Shadoe Steele, Citadel Broadcasting’s Sunday Magazine with Brian Hughes, Lisa Davis’ Your Health Radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast, Dr. Robert Su’s Carbohydrates Can Kill Podcast.

Dr. Joe Leonardi also will come and speak to your group; to learn more about his motivational speaking fees and availability contact him at fatthenfitnow@me.com

Old age doesn’t come alone; it isn’t easy getting older; when I was younger….

The above are a few of the statements I hear from people every day. The funny part is that I hear them from people younger than I am. Finally, one day I said to someone; “I love getting older, besides it is better than the alternative.” The gentleman gave me a quizzical look and then shrugged his shoulders. I said, “The alternative is dying young.” Without a word he waved his hand in a dismissive gesture and walked away. Well he tried to walk away, I wasn’t going to let it go. I gently touched his shoulder and told him I could help him live a better life.

He said, “What do you know, you’re in good shape — being fat and getting old isn’t any fun.” Then he said the words that made me determined to help him, “The alternative would be better.”

I guided him to a table at the diner. We began a conversation, the young man who was griping about getting older was only thirty five years old. I learned that his weight was well over three hundred and fifty pounds and his obesity was making it difficult to find a job. He told me, ” The people I interviewed with were courteous and polite, but I could tell they were disgusted by my weight.”

I was surprised at how much he had opened up to me, but I also learned that he was lonely and down on himself. I didn’t say much, I just intently listened. Then he said, “What would you know.”

I excused myself and went out to my car hoping to find a draft copy of my book. I found one under the front seat and rushed back inside. I placed the manuscript down in front of him. He looked from the front page and then flipped through the pages. He looked up at me with a smile said, “You do understand. “

That was over a year ago. The young man came to my office and followed my plan to a tee. He continued support for about nine months and had dropped eighty pounds in that time. He went from barely being able to manage a set of steps to jogging two miles a day and joining a gym. While having breakfast this morning I ran into him. He was looking trimmer and fit. He was continuing to drop weight and still faithfully working on his fitness.

As we exchanged pleasantries he said he had to hurry off to work. He went out to his car, paused and came back in the restaurant. He trotted back inside and said, “You were right, getting older is great. Thank you for giving me back my life.”

Physical Culturist and Chiropractor, Dr. Joe Leonardi is the author of the life changing book, “Obesity Undone” and a contributor to NaturallySavvy.com and CarbSmart.com. He is available to appear on any talk radio, internet podcast or television outlet.

He has appeared on 94.3FM’s The David Maderia Show, What’s Weighing You Down, w/Dr. Marilyn Gansel on FTNS radio, Nurture and Nutrition on Blog Talk Radio, Low Carb Conversations with Jimmy Moore and Friends, BlogTalk Radio’s Toni Harris Speaks, Internet Radio: Cathie’s Talking, TV -35′s Storm Politics with Tiffany Cloud, WILK’s The Sue Henry Show, Magic 93′s Frankie In The Morning, WBRE’s PA Live, SSPTV’s News 13, Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Entercom’s Outlook on Northeast PA with Shadoe Steele, Citadel Broadcasting’s Sunday Magazine with Brian Hughes, Lisa Davis’ Your Health Radio; Hank Garner’s Podcast, Dr. Robert Su’s Carbohydrates Can Kill Podcast; and the one and only Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast.
Dr. Joe Leonardi also will come and speak to your group; to learn more about his motivational speaking fees and availability contact him at docjoeleonardi@betterlifeseminars.com and check out his website http://www.ObesityUndone.com.
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************The information herein is for information purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease or disorder. The posting and videos do not apply to those with an underlying medical or hormonal condition. I advise anyone embarking on a weight loss and fitness plan to have a thorough medical evaluation. You want to be sure that you are physically able to exercise and you don’t have any underlying medical conditions No guarantees are made or to be implied.************

I just finished reading Gary Taubes latest bookWhy We Get Fat And What To Do About It. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but I have the same criticism of Mr. Taubes that I have had in the past; he gives people excuses and justifications NOT to exercise. I do not deny nor refute the studies he cites, but he seems to want to give every obese person every possible out to avoid exercise and in turn, improve their overall health and wellness. Exercise may or may not influence weight loss, but it does influence overall health, wellness and fitness. The myriad of pages he spends to justify indolence and laziness is really a disservice to those who need to take control of their obesity issues and live a better quality of life. Below is a posting I did in the past, I repost it here because reading his book did not change my mind, it just reaffirmed my opinion. I respect Mr. Taubes and would enjoy a meeting and debating him on the the topic of exercise. I understand that he is an established and respected writer and, for the time being, a more successful author than I am, but that doesn’t change my views that for all the good he is doing brining to light the truth about proper nutrition, he is not helping anyone with his dissuasion of the importance of exercise.

The show was interesting and I thought Gary held his own and made his points in the allotted time. I am sure it was edited for broadcast to fit the time frame, so I am willing to bet that we missed quite a bit. I did find Dr. Oz to be closed minded and really out of his league when discussing low carbohydrate eating. I will post more bout this at a later time when I have a chance to view the episode again.

What concerned me was the on-line exclusive discussion concerning exercise. Gary Taubes is correct; you do not need to incorporate exercise to lose weight. I will not dispute this fact. If an obese person follows a low carbohydrate eating plan — that person will lose weight. No and, if or buts about it.

However, is that really the best way to accomplish the goal?

More importantly, should weight loss be the sole goal?

Tthe answer to both questions is a resounding no!

In my book, in columns that I have written and interviews I have given; I am fond of saying that weight loss is a side effect of fitness. Not because fitness is the way to lose weight, but because the goal is not weight loss — the actual goal is physical fitness.

I can’t tell you how many times I am asked about lose skin from losing over one hundred pounds or how can one maintain their weight loss and the big one; I thought once I lost weight I would feel better, but I don’t.

The answer to all of the above is exercise. The problem is the general view of what exactly is exercise.

Exercise must contain both progressive resistance and endurance exercise. People must stop thinking aerobic or cardiovascular exercise. Those terms limit the scope of thought, the type of exercise and of course, the results.

Gary Taubes made the comment that exercising will actually cause a person to eat more by “Working up an appetite.”

To those of us who exercise regularly and follow a low carb eating plan, we can attest that we may have an increase in hunger. However, since low carb eating doesn’t concern itself with overall quantity of food, this is not a big deal. That mindset should only apply to those that follow calorie restricted diets.

The other factor is that when one follows an exercise program that incorporates both progressive resistance training and endurance exercises, that person will actually crave the foods that will promote muscle repair, proteins, that will actually assist in fat loss.

My concern about Mr. Taubes so adamantly opposing exercise is that it will just give the lazy an excuse not to exercise. Without exercise, one limits their overall enjoyment of life.

As I have said before; weight loss and fitness are not about living longer; they are about living better.

He is available to speak at no charge to any school or any youth group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Entercom’s Outlook on Northeast PA with Shadoe Steele, Citadel Broadcasting’s Sunday Magazine with Brian Hughes, Lisa Davis’ Your Health Radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast.

As you all know, I am a low carb advocate, however, I don’t believe in being closed minded to any point of view. I have a facebook friend who has some great ideas about eating and exercise and I offered him a spot as a guest poster this week. So without further adieu, here is The Fitness Godfather Frank, Loosing Weight, Graham.

TOP 6 WAYS TO GET A 6 PACK

by Fitness Godfather.

1)THE 24/7 DIET.

Having a strict diet Monday to Friday is great but the results from eating right and exercising will be sabotaged, even ruined, when you take the weekend off. You must diet consistently with an exception to 1 or 2 planned cheat meals throughout the week – but don’t use a cheat meal as an excuse to have a cheat day. Make dieting part of your lifestyle – this is challenging for everyone but by doing so you will improve your self-discipline. Another important point is that the dieting phase will not last forever, eating in this way will produce good results if followed strictly and once you have lost the desired amount fat you will only have to maintain your physique not improve it – so the better you stick to the diet phase the quicker you will be able to enjoy the maintenance phase.

2)GET YOUR PROTIEN IN

Many diet plans do not incorporate enough protein or perhaps suggest taking too much. The macro-ratio which has worked best is broken down into 40 percent protein, 40 percent carbohydrates and 20 percent fats. I think this is a good rule of thumb to follow when dieting and remember to cut back on your calorie intake. Try to consume 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight and choose lean sources of protein such as fish, chicken breast, whey isolate protein powders and before bed I like to eat cottage cheese, the reason for this is because it contains casein protein which is a fancy name for slow releasing protein which means when you sleep your body will not be in a catabolic (muscle burning instead of fat burning) state. As well as eating enough protein eat most of your carbohydrates earlier in the day and after 7pm eat only fibrous carbohydrates with lean proteins.

3)SKIPPING MEALS TO SKIP CALORIES?

Meal Frequency is an important part of dieting as it keeps your metabolism high which of course burns more calories. People skip meals because they are not hungry, this is a mistake, you must calculate how many calories your need to lose weight and stick to those calories each day and eat at the same time each day, if you do not your metabolism will slow down and you can burn less fat. The most important meals in the day are breakfast, pre-workout, post-workout and before bed. Try to have at least 6 meals a day and eat every 2-3 hours. An interesting study in the University of Massachusetts showed people who skip breakfast are 4.5 times more likely to have excess body fat than those who don’t so make sure you have a good nutritious breakfast everyday and eat 4-5 other small meals spread throughout the day to keep that metabolism burning fat not muscle!

4)CHOOSE THE RIGHT EXERCISES

A lot of people focus on crunches when trying to get a 6 pack which is a huge mistake! You cannot build muscle when you are calorie deficient such as when you are dieting so your abs will not get much bigger if at all! Therefore focus on eating less calories, performing cardio and exercises that burn more fat like compound exercises, for example, SQUAT, DEADLIFT and BENCH PRESS which also strengthen your abs.

In terms of building bigger abdominal muscles lower abs are harder than upper abs so focus on exercises like hanging leg raises or captains chair or if you do not have the equipment reverse crunches. Finish off your workout with some crunches to stimulate your upper abs. But these abdominal exercises will not give the results cardio and a good diet provide.

5)CARDIO TIMING AND INTENSITY!

The key to a 6 pack is really acquiring some muscle mass through a bulking phase where we eat more calories than our bodies need followed by what is known as a “cutting” phase, most people just call this dieting, where we create a calorie deficit which will burn fat. A good calorie deficit is around 500 calories less than your body uses throughout the day or we can eat maintenance level calories and perform cardio. The best time to do cardio is in the morning as it burns more calories than night time, training intensely for 10-15 minutes is shown to be more productive than low intensity for fat loss. However, if you are already eating 500 calories less than your body needs and performing too much cardio your body will use muscle not fat as an energy source (muscle catabolism). Therefore, it is best to slowly loose “weight” (by about 1lbs to 3lbs per week) otherwise the weight you will lose will be both muscle and fat instead of exclusively loosing fat which is how to show off your abdominal muscles.

6)FLUIDS!

An often underestimated part of trying to achieve the “6 pack” is water consumption. Here are the rules I follow concerning liquids when dieting:

1) Drink 8-10 glasses of water per day (do not overdo it or you will be at the toilet constantly)

2) Only drink water or green tea – no sodas.

3) Beware of drinks which have “no added sugar” as they can contain natural sugars.

4) If you drink diet sodas or fruit juice consume before 6 pm and if you consume milk make sure it is skimmed.

He is available to speak at no charge to any school or any youth group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Lisa Davis’ Your health radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast.

The myth of calories in/calories out has been perhaps one of the biggest obstacles in successfully managing obesity and may in fact be one of the direct causes of the current obesity crisis. I am sure you have heard that to lose weight you need to burn more calories than you take in. The correlation can make sense to someone I’m sure, but it in reality it just doesn’t. Taking this theory your weight should fluctuate from day-to-day, week to week and month to month based on how much more activity you either put out or how much more food you consume.

The simple fact is that a calories is NOT a calorie. The human body will process different foods in different ways. The processing of different foods is heavily influenced by the release of the hormone insulin. This is the reason why low carbohydrate eating is such an effective means of not only losing weight, but keeping it off — permanently.

Those that espouse the calorie model of weight management will try to convince you that it doesn’t matter what you eat, just so long as you restrict the number of calories you consume. So you can eat, say 1,500 calories a day. To the advocates of caloric restriction it doesn’t matter if you eat 1,500 calories of ice cream, steak, bread, potatoes, chicken, fish, candy,… okay you get the idea. Just as long as you restrict the calories you will lose weight and you know something, this may work, to a point. However, it will not work in the long-term, and it will definitely not help improve your overall health. If you are consuming 1,500 calories of sugar every day, your body is secreting large amounts of insulin, eventually, possibly leading to insulin related issues including weight gain, obesity and potentially type II diabetes.

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The body does not process carbohydrates, proteins and fats the same way. It is pretty obvious that simple carbohydrates and to a large extent, complex carbohydrates have a negative effect on the human body. All carbohydrate, with the exception of fiber is eventrually broken down into a simply sugar. They will all cause insulin to be released, and if not utilized almost immediately the excess energy will be stored as fat in the body.

It does matter where your calories come from, it does matter in which form you consume them and it does matter to your overall health what you eat.

I am an advocate of low carbohydrate eating. Not simply restricting carbohydrates, but eating foods that are not processed and do not contain large amounts of any type of non-fibrous carbohydrate. In my next posting I will discuss the difference between fat and carbohydrate as an energy source.

He is available to speak at no charge to any school or any youth group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Lisa Davis’ Your health radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast.

I wasn’t an athletic youth, but I always participated in sports related activities. As kids we didn’t have video games, Facebook, computers or five hundred cable channels to occupy our time. We played outside; in the parks, in the streets or in vacant lots — anywhere we could find a spot, we played sports. Football, baseball and basketball where the big three. But we also made up games that involved physical activity, we even had our own neighborhood Olympic Games. Being overweight, I wasn’t the best, I was often picked last, but still — I participated.

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Over the summer between eighth and ninth grade I decided I was going to go out for football. No matter how ridiculous it sounds in retrospect, I was going to play for the Pittston Area Patriots, Penn State Nitnany Lions and finally I would play in the National Football League.

Summer program was the first step along my path. My mom dropped me off at the front entrance to the high school. Instead of turning right and going into the gym, I went straight. Beyond a second set of glass doors my gaze was fixed on the trophy case. Little statuettes of championship seasons stared back at me, but it was the center item that had my full attention — the number 44 jersey worn by Jimmy Cefalo.

I daydreamed about playing on the gridiron wearing the Pittston red, white a blue. I didn’t see nor hear anything else. Suddenly my day slumber was broken by a large hand that had fallen over my shoulder, it was that of legendary head football coach Bob Barbieri. “You are going to be part of this son.”

I just nodded my head. It was as if the hand of God himself had touched me. He continued, “Jimmy was the best, a natural talent, but do you know what made him great?”

I couldn’t speak. I simply stared at the jersey and then the coach. “He worked and practiced harder than anyone else.” He paused for a moment, “In his time here he set track records as well as football, but no matter what he did, he didn’t rely solely on his natural abilities.” Still awestruck I said nothing. Coach Barbieri led me down to the gym.

I only was on the team for two seasons. I never started, heck I barely played, but I worked hard and enjoyed the game. However, I took from those two years valuable lessons about hard work, maximizing potential and that winners were more than born — that even the best still had to practice.

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If you live or lived in Northeast Pennsylvania and are around my age then you are acquainted with the names Jimmy Cefalo and Bob Barbieri. I never knew Jimmy Cefalo beyond a handful of meetings, but in addition to being Coach, Bob Barbieri was an teacher at the school. His lessons extended beyond the football field and beyond the classroom, they extended into life. They are lessons I used getting through boot camp, college, business and in overcoming obesity. His words about Jimmy Cefalo echoed in my head when I began my journey from Fat Then to Fit Now and I was determined to achieve my goals and work harder than anyone else.

He is available to speak at no charge to any school or any youth group. He will make himself available to any talk radio, internet podcasting or television outlet. He has appeared on Public Television WVIA’s State of Pennsylvania and Call the Doctor; Lisa Davis’ Your health radio; Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low Carb podcast; Hank Garner’s Podcast.

Welcome to the Power of PIES. I apologize to those coming to this site looking for dessert : ) Instead, the PIES represented here is the powerful combination of Prayer, Imagination, Emotion, and Starting now. Read on, and I promise you will be impacted in a positive way. After all, life is sweet. Enjoy it!